


The Mornings After

by insominia



Series: Slow Burning Adventures in Mutual Pining between a Railroad Loyalist and a Brotherhood Synth [2]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 19:43:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16980630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insominia/pseuds/insominia
Summary: After his brush with *that* pollen, Danse is alive, alive and grateful. He just can't figure out why Nate insists on working himself so hard these days.





	The Mornings After

Paladin Danse had been watching Nate work for some time. Danse had taken on the relatively simple job of shoring up what passed for houses at yet _another_ Minutemen settlement. How the people could live here without knowing basic enough repairs to stop the roof from leaking was beyond him, why it required the "General's" assistance seemed beyond the pale. That said, Danse didn't mind helping out at the settlements, even if he didn't entirely approve of the Minutemen and their ragtag attempts to bring order to the Commonwealth. Approve wasn't quite the right word, they were a joke to the Paladin, but for as long as their interests didn't conflict with the Brotherhood of Steel, he would tolerate them. Besides, there was something cathartic about building settlements from scratch, Nate was certainly invested in it, and it didn't do the Brotherhood any harm to be seen helping out like this.   
Recently, however, it seemed like they were moving from settlement to settlement barely stopping for anything more than a brief nap and cold instamash. Danse was tired, but Nate, Nate was exhausted.

Danse had been in the military too long to not recognise the signs of a soldier pushing themselves too hard, and from the way, Nate's muscles tensed and strained as he moved it was a wonder the man had not collapsed; his entire body seemed to be screaming out for rest. Nate was on his knees, scraping dirt with his hands, his face set in an expression of grim determination, as though he could ignore his obvious pain. Still, Danse noted that there was just one mutfruit sapling beside him, the last one waiting to be planted. Rubbing stains from his hands to his jeans, Danse headed for the bar, Sunshine Tidings was large enough to warrant one at least and he returned with a bottle of purified water. Once the soil had been scraped over the sapling's roots, Nate would stop and consider it all a job well done. Danse wouldn't need to mention anything, he'd hand over the water and Nate would probably bunk down even though it was still light.

Nate sat back on his haunches, wiping the sweat that was streaming down his face. His throat was parched, his muscles ached and he was so hungry he didn't fancy a Deathclaw's chances going hand to hand right now, but at least it was done. Sunshine Tidings had a whole new crop. He took a deep, steadying breath. Some purified water, a sit-down and he'd be ok. That was until he glanced up and saw Danse leaning against a door frame.

_Dammit._

There should be regulations preventing the Brotherhood wearing casual clothes, in jeans and a t-shirt Danse looked positively domestic, and right now, trying to maintain a professional distance, that was not how Nate wanted to see him. His eyes caught the glint of the can in his hand; Danse was holding a bottle of water ready for him.

Nate was suddenly hyper-aware of the Paladin and his eyes upon him. This situation was intolerable, made all the more so by the fact that Danse didn't seem to notice that there was a situation. The Paladin might be composed enough to say - _hey so we had sex, it happens, I wasn't in my right mind_ \- but Nate was struggling with it. Easier for Danse, Nate thought, almost spitefully, he didn't remember it.

Nate did.

Vividly.

_Frequently._

It was driving him to distraction, amongst other things.

What was it Danse had said? ... _if an offer had been made under other circumstances I would have accepted_? Right before he had continued to treat Nate as professionally as he ever had, saying and doing nothing that even hinted at an interest in something more.

Nate groaned, hoping if it were heard it would be perceived and dismissed as discomfort. Which it was, mostly. He'd wanted to ask Danse to leave, it wouldn't have been the first time, he could run his missions solo for a while or travel with someone else, how long had it been since he'd seen Valentine or Piper? But the words had died in his throat, he couldn't do it. He didn't want Danse to go away, but seeing him every day like this was getting too much.

Nate glanced back, Danse hadn't moved, waiting on some sign of confirmation that Nate was finished before he came over. Nate _was_ finished. He needed that water. He was so tired. But he wasn't quite ready to talk to Danse, so he did what he'd been doing since they'd decided to carry on as normal after Danse's brush with that bloody pollen. He dusted himself off and found something else that needed doing.

When Danse caught up to him he was knee deep in a hole, hacking the ground with a shovel, they'd said there was no water here but Nate would prove them wrong.

"You should rest," Danse said, without preamble, "you're working yourself too hard."

Nate looked up, his eyes squinting in the sun as Danse towered over him. Even when he wasn't in power armour the man was huge, that and Nate was about a foot in a hole in the ground right now. For a moment, he wondered how he could play this, settling on blissful ignorance featuring a touch of nonchalance and said, "no more than usual?" He gave what he thought was a winning smile, but Danse remained unmoved.

"Yes more than usual," he snapped back, sternly and Nate's carefully crafted mask of flippancy faltered. "Is there a reason you're working yourself to the point of negligence?"

_Maybe. Yes._

_You._

Nate swallowed, hard, forcing his eyes from Danse, who he was only looking at because he was looming over him and not because the t-shirt he was wearing happened to show off every single one of the Paladin's defined muscles. Muscles Nate had already -

"It's nothing," Nate bit out, attacking the ground with a new ferocity.

"You need to stop this," Danse said, not impatiently. Nate felt his blood boil, partly from the condescension in his tone, partly because he knew Danse was right.

"What're you going to do? Write me up?" Nate asked, unable to stop the sarcasm from sneaking into his tone.

"If you continue, yes."

Nate was out of the hole in an instant, having barely formed the thought to do so, "you can't do that!"

"The hell I can't!" Danse snapped, stepping up to him, "I'm your C.O. If you continue on like this you are going to render yourself unfit for duty and I won't let that happen.

They glowered at each other, Nate's usually soft brown eyes blazing with undisguised fury while Danse stared back with the quiet, furious confidence of a Paladin. Then, as though a switch had been flicked, they noticed at the same time that they were close. Too close.

Nate could count every eyelash, memorise every scar and his eyes zoned in on Danse's lips, unable to not remember the last time they had been this close. The world around them seemed to pause, nothing moved, the very air they stood in felt as though it had been charged by a dozen radstorms.

Danse was staring back at him, his expression unreadable and Nate felt his eyes flutter closed, despite himself, his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

_Kiss me_ , he begged silently, _please kiss me._

But Danse took half a step backward, clearing his throat awkwardly. The spell was broken and Nate felt desolation crash against him as though he were being tossed against the rocks below them. Danse held out the bottle of water, "rest," he said, though his voice sounded distant even to himself. Nate was still standing there, staring at the bottle, looking surprisingly small and vulnerable. Danse twitched, his body reacting against him, wanting to reach out, to hold him, to kiss away that look, feelings which were forcing their way to the fore with alarming frequency. Nate's eyes caught Danse's again and for a moment neither of them dared even to breathe. So Danse did the only thing he could think to do. He turned on his heel and he stalked in the opposite direction.

This had to stop.

He was a Paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel, he would not allow his personal feelings to affect his judgment or his relationship with his subordinate. The Knight had done him a great favour, saving his life the way he had, but it was nothing. It meant nothing. Danse couldn't even remember it and perhaps that was worse. He was tormented by fragmented glimpses of Nate groaning, pleading, coming undone-

_No._

Danse forced the images away. He would not jea[pordise the mission, both their immediate one and the Brotherhood's wider goal of liberating the Commonwealth, not for some curiosity regarding his subordinate.

A pained groan escaped him, it really didn't help to think of Nate as a subordinate. It conjured up too many ideas.

Danse went for a walk, a long walk. The kind of effort that might have been termed a punishment march for some, but it was worth it. The tension had eased off, stomped out during Danse's impromptu patrol. When he returned, he hoped he might be able to address things with Nate, maybe they could talk about why the Knight felt the need to work himself to the point of unconsciousness. But as he returned and caught sight of Nate, relief spread through him and he couldn't help but smile. He wouldn't have to it seemed, Nate was lying in a reclining chair, fast asleep, the bottle of water in his hand still, albeit empty.


End file.
